[Jim Sachs]

riz -

Thanks for your very balanced and reasonable post.

Regarding criticism: I've come to think of the Forum members as family, and it's always disheartening when a family member seems ungrateful when you've given up so much trying to make them happy. I don't make any money giving away free updates. There is only one reason I do it: because I promised I would. From a business standpoint, it's ridiculous. The smart thing to do would be to stop all further development on the Aquarium and get on to the next item for sale. But I'm just not built that way, and will continue to improve the Aquarium for years to come.

Most people have no concept of how difficult and time consuming this is for me. Just the movement of the Lionfish took 5 weeks, 16 to 20 hours a day, no days off. If there's another developer willing to do that for the users of a little $20 program, he should probably be locked up. So when I come to the Forum on the very day I release the new version as see a banner title on the topmost thread "Lionfish Dissapointment", I get very discouraged.

Of course I do know that the vast majority of users do appreciate the effort, and that keeps me going. I take user suggestions very seriously, and look at every message in the Wishlist. It's because of user suggestions that this version contains the "Starfish Not Allowed On Glass" button, remembers the location of the starfish, saves settings upon exit, and includes several other new features. When offered in a constructive spirit, as yours are riz, all suggestions are welcome. When the tone leans toward "I'm dissapointed, and don't feel I got my money's worth", it feels like I've been blindsided from within the family.